The Small Business Payments Alliance (SBPA) issued a report today containing new data that affirms the value of credit cards for small businesses. According to consumer surveys and new research conducted over the first quarter of 2024, credit cards remain a top funding source for small and medium-sized businesses.
he Small Business Payments Alliance (SBPA) issued a report today featuring new polling data on the importance of credit cards and electronic payments for small business.
As any small business owner knows, the customer experience is just as important as the quality of products or services we offer. For my wellness and beauty business, AN Skin & Beauty in O’Fallon, my customers expect and depend on being able to shop our products in my store and online with ease and peace-of-mind.
Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy. The nation’s 33.3 million small businesses employ 61.6 million Americans – almost 46 percent of the private sector workforce. Small businesses across the country rely on credit cards and rewards to lower operating costs, re-invest in their businesses and employees, manage cash flow, and give customers more choice, security, and convenience in how they pay.
Members of the Small Business Payments Alliance (SBPA) – a group of independent small business owners, entrepreneurs, and tradespeople – headed to Capitol Hill this week to share first-hand the negative impacts that new government mandates would have on their businesses. The SBPA was formed in the wake of proposed changes to the electronic payments system that threaten to reduce credit card payment security, access and benefits.
Melanated communities in Colorado and across the country have historically and perpetually faced systemic barriers to credit and banking access. Melanated communities are already chronically underbanked, including 27% of Black families and 18% of Hispanic families. And, too often for those who are “banked,” the understanding of how to use these accounts for their benefit while keeping money in interest-bearing accounts and investments is not the norm.
As a small business owner, I work every day to keep my business up and running — and thriving. I own DA SPOT, a unique retail space featuring more than 100 creative brands by people of color.
The Credit Card Competition Act, imposing routing mandates on credit cards, would shift billions in consumer spending to less secure processing firms that would weaken the nation’s payment system. It will likely lead to even more private consumer information being made available to foreign networks (e.g.; China and Russia).
Lawmakers returning to Washington this month were greeted with previously debunked claims and recycled rhetoric about the benefits of the Durbin-Marshall credit card bill. With all the misinformation floating around, the Small Business Payments Alliance is setting the record straight on the negative impact that new government mandates would have on small businesses.
With their convenience and flexibility, credit cards have become an essential part of modern financial transactions and are often a consumer’s first entry into the broader financial services world. Unfortunately, recent policy proposals are threatening to disrupt this ecosystem, and the cumulative impact of these changes could have serious consequences for bank customers.
Economic development has always been near and dear to my heart. Helping our economy grow strong is one of the reasons I ran for the West Virginia House of Delegates, and it is something that I take very seriously.
Sometimes expanding our economy means that I must support state bills and sometimes it means that I must oppose others that I think will hurt expansion and growth. And sometimes it means that I must either support or oppose federal legislation.
CUNA Deputy Chief Advocacy Officer Jason Stverak appeared on the Live Richer podcast recently to discuss the many negative effects that come with the Credit Card Competition Act. CUNA, Leagues, and credit unions prevented the from moving forward in the previous Congress, despite efforts to include it in must-pass end-of-year legislation.
The absolute last place you want to see someone practicing sleight of hand is when they have your credit card.
Alas that’s exactly what a bipartisan group wants to do with millions of Americans’ credit card benefits, hoping to distract us with some nice-sounding words about reform and affordability, all so they can service mega-retailers.
That is why I am concerned about proposed legislation in Congress called the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) – a bill which despite its name would disproportionately benefit larger retailers while jeopardizing the many benefits small businesses owners enjoy from their use and acceptance of credit cards.
With holiday shopping season in full swing and consumer spending on the rise, the Small Business Payments Alliance (SBPA) issued a report highlighting the importance of credit cards for small businesses – and the negative impact Durbin-Marshall would have on the security of the electronic payments system.
President Reagan famously said that the most terrifying words in the English language are, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Likewise, when Congress threatens to “inject more competition in an industry,” skepticism should be our first response.
With the holiday shopping season upon us, it’s important to recognize the locally owned, small businesses that are the backbone of our economy. My cycling studio, Harlem Cycle, thrives on the energy and enthusiasm of our diverse clientele in the heart of Harlem. As a business rooted in the community, we cherish the trust our clients have for us and we take pride in representing everything that makes Harlem unique.
The phrase “revolving credit line” usually conjures up images of balding bankers, meticulously reviewing detailed loan applications, while bright-eyed prospective borrowers wait on the edge of their seats. Today,
revolving credit lines for consumers take the form of colorful plastic cards that fit neatly in your wallet, and provide access to rewards, concert tickets, and much more. These colorful plastic cards—credit cards — are merely the end of an intricate network that combines consumer loans, account reconciliation, purchase protection, and security that is available to you, worldwide, on a 24-7 basis.
Survey commissioned by Electronic Payments Coalition and conducted by Morning Consult shows more than 4 in 5 Americans with credit cards have rewards programs, including 75% of households with incomes less than $50,000.
In advance of Small Business Saturday, the Small Business Payments Alliance (SBPA) issued a report highlighting the importance of credit cards for small businesses – and the negative impact Durbin-Marshall would have on the electronic payments and rewards system.
Small businesses claim they have legitimate concerns that their larger counterparts will be the beneficiaries of lower card acceptance costs should the Credit Card Competition Act become law, argues the Small Business Payments Alliance, a trade organization recently formed by the Electronic Payments Coalition.
A group of independent small business owners, entrepreneurs, and tradespeople have joined forces and formed the Small Business Payments Alliance (SBPA) to advocate on behalf of a modern, safe and secure electronic payments system that supports their businesses.
I’m the co-owner of Happy Howie’s, a manufacturer of dog treats in Detroit that has been in operation for 12 years. I assure you that running a small business is not easy and rather than helping, the Act will hurt small businesses by taking away credit card rewards, something most owners rely on.
A new piece of legislation regarding credit cards has been introduced in the U.S. Senate. The proposed Credit Card Competition Act of 2023 (CCCA) targets credit card interchange income that issuers receive to offset costs and provide benefits in offering credit cards to their customers.
The Credit Card Competition Act will increase costs on small businesses and consumers, reduce investment in payment security, and empower regulators such as the Federal Reserve.
Last month, backers of the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) indicated that they anticipate a vote before the end of the year. This seems even more likely following Senator Dick Durbin’s most recent statement, urging that his bill be brought forward for a vote, ultimately to fight against what he calls the Visa-Mastercard “duopoly.”
Changes are coming to airline and credit card rewards programs, but the quest for higher status is still worth it.
Most small businesses begin as an idea and a dream. Through risk-taking, creativity and sweat those dreams become the economic lifeblood of local communities across America. This activity has provided a pathway for millions to achieve prosperity and financial security.
As a proud Arizonan and Latina small business owner, I advocate against any policies that threaten economic empowerment for our communities. I can say wholeheartedly that the Credit Card Competition Act will hurt us more than it will help us.
Supporters of the Credit Card Competition Act say it will lower how much you pay at the store. Critics of the bill say that’s not a guarantee, and that history shows credit card rewards are likely to suffer.
The Credit Card Competition Act of 2023—nicknamed “Durbin 2.0” after its co-sponsor, Sen. Dick Durbin, who enacted debit card regulations following the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010—would require every credit card transaction to have two networks—one of them not Visa or Mastercard—enabled to route transactions.
One of the lessons my dad taught me early in life was the “law of unintended consequences,” which is that the actions of people — and especially of government — always have effects that are unanticipated or unintended.
Democratic lawmakers like Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division want to impose new rules for credit-card transactions that would reduce competition, harm consumers and crush small banks.
These days as technology gets more advanced, it seems like consumers are under constant attack from hackers and online scammers. Now more than ever, consumer safety and protection are of the utmost importance, which is why I need to sound the alarm on a bill that could compromise our safety.
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That seems to be the prevailing sentiment Wednesday (June 7) when it was announced that the Credit Card Competition Act legislation is being reintroduced on Capitol Hill.
When you think of credit card networks, Visa and Mastercard are probably the first — and maybe the only — brand names that come to mind. The Credit Card Competition Act of 2022 aims to change that.
Last fall, the House Financial Services Committee passed a Financial CHOICE Act that repealed harmful Dodd-Frank Act price controls. That provision would have benefited consumers and small businesses and strengthened small banks and credit unions.
New data from the Small Business Payments Alliance once again reaffirms the value of credit cards for small businesses. According to consumer surveys and research gathered over the first quarter of 2024, credit cards continue to provide crucial benefits to small businesses.
This research note finds the proposed Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) will likely generate between $13 billion and $15 billion in transfers to merchants from financial institutions and consumers. However, this distributional analysis finds almost all of those savings will accrue to retailers with $500 million in sales or more—none of which constitute small businesses under the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) definition.
The Holiday Season is in full swing and as consumer spending rises, so too do fraud attempts. According to a 2022 study by AARP, three out of four U.S. adults age 18-plus have been targeted by or experienced at least one form of fraud. Fortunately, more and more consumers and merchants are using credit cards to protect themselves against financial losses.
When a consumer makes a payment with a credit card, a small portion of the transaction is used to compensate the merchant’s bank, the payment processors, the payment network, and the consumer’s bank—each of which play a role in facilitating the transaction.
Small Business Saturday is an annual shopping event that takes place on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. Since 2010, the initiative has encouraged consumers to support local small businesses. The idea draws a stark contrast to Black Friday and Cyber Monday – two other big holiday shopping days that are dominated by mega corporations.
The “Durbin Amendment, enacted as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, has been cited by some as an example of a policy that did not achieve the goals of the authors of the policy while imposing new costs on the financial and debit exchange sectors.
Credit Union National Association and American Association of Credit Union Leagues commissioned this report from Cornerstone Advisors in spring 2023 to examine the evidence of how debit card routing mandates and debit interchange price caps from Senate Amendment 3989 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Durbin Amendment” or “Durbin 1.0”) have impacted credit unions and the larger banking system.
Credit card rewards programs are expensive and intricate for issuers to maintain, but they are also enormously popular with cardholders and a significant driver of customer acquisition. This Javelin Strategy & Research report looks at the current landscape for rewards programs, including possible responses by the industry should Congress pass the Credit Card Competition Act.
The Small Business Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) strongly opposes harmful credit card routing legislation introduced this year in the U.S. Senate (S. 4674) and U.S. House (H.R. 8874). If enacted, credit card routing mandates would be burdensome for small businesses.
For many small-business owners, it’s hard to imagine running their business without credit cards. A recent report found that 61% of entrepreneurs with a personal credit card use it to fund their business at least monthly, and a majority of those with a business credit card use it at least weekly.
Low-income, less-educated, and minority households are less likely to have bank accounts—which are essential for households’ financial well-being. People have cited high fees, minimum balance requirements, and other reasons why they don’t have bank accounts.
After the Great Recession, new regulatory interventions were introduced to protect consumers and reduce the costs of financial products. Some voiced concern that direct price regulation was unlikely to help consumers, because banks offset losses in one domain by increasing the prices that they charge consumers for other products.
The interchange fees associated with debit and credit cards have
long been a controversial issue in the retail payments system.
Support for small businesses is more important now than ever before.
In the digital age, learning how to modernize your small business can be overwhelming. You can help your business thrive by setting up shop online with digital tools, accepting digital payments, and protecting your business from cyberattacks.
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